Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 16 - TRAITORS ONE, TRAITORS ALL

And now it reaaally begins :)

Most Alphas had a suite in the packhouse, but there had been a fiery incident at New Dawn a few decades back, and they'd learned their lesson about separating work and home life. Jace's house was huge, and it had probably cost half a million to build, but for an Alpha that was pocket change, so who cared, right?

To my surprise, he unlocked the door and led us inside. We went through a corridor and into a living room that was probably bigger than the entire cabin. There were leather sofas, two massive TVs and a plush cream carpet.

"Wow," I said. "I like it. Spacious, airy, all this natural light..."

Jace caught hold of my collar and hauled me towards the sofa. "Shut up. Sit down."

I found myself sinking into the seat. My experiences with sofas were few and far between, but I wasn't entirely sure I trusted the things. It seemed to me that you could sit down and get engulfed and never be seen again.

"If you touch anything, you will regret it," Jace warned us.

"Whatever, mate," Bryn drawled. He'd already picked up a little china robin, and he was examining it in great detail.

Jace pretended not to notice to save himself the trouble of yet another argument. He turned away to rummage through a drawer for a moment. When he was done, he put a notepad and a pen in front of me. "I want a phone number for Skye, or you're not going anywhere."

So, of course, I linked Liam, and I got him to google the phone number for the NSPCC. With luck, he'd start a conversation about the children he'd just abducted and wind up in all kinds of trouble. We did want him to talk to Mam, obviously, but that didn't mean I had to make it easy for him. I pushed the phone number back towards him, trying to smother my grin.

"You think I don't recognise that number?" he demanded. "Hilarious, pup. Try again."

Dammit. Why did I have to get caught by the only smart Alpha in the entirety of Snowdonia? I linked Liam for a second time, ignoring his lazy bemusement, then I pretended to think for a moment before adding the customer support number for Sky broadband.

Jace took one look at it and shook his head. "That's not a mobile prefix."

I shrugged at him. "Course not. Mam's not stupid enough to carry a mobile, 'cause you guys can track those things, right? It's an indirect line of communication, yeah, but you'll reach her. Just ask for Skye."

He regarded me through narrowed eyes, but he did pocket the piece of paper without any more arguments. Turned out I wasn't so dumb myself.

Once Jace had made the others sit down, too, he cuffed Ellis to the arm of the sofa. It was an easy way to keep us from running — obviously, we couldn't leave the kid behind. He left Hayden to watch us while he went to open the door to the kitchen.

"We have guests," he said.

There were three women sat at the kitchen table. One was the Luna. I knew her by sight. The second looked kinda like Jace except younger, so I reckoned she might have been his sister. The third ... now, I had to look twice at her, because she looked an awful lot like my mam. They were all staring at us with total bewilderment.

"Oh, look, it's the blood traitor," I muttered under my breath. The others jeered an agreement. Mam's twin had passed information to the flockies and helped them sack the castle, so it was safe to say she wasn't invited to the annual family picnics anymore.

Aunty Kara blinked at us. "Who the hell are they, Jace? And what are they doing here?"

"That's not your concern. I just need you to watch them. I don't care if you have to make them pancakes and put Netflix on — just keep them quiet while I sort this mess out, would you?"